You’ve no doubt by now noticed that the sites got a bit of a re-design and some things got changed around last week. We wanted to highlight two changes to make sure everyone knows what changed.

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed (including this broadcast function so we can more easily update everyone) but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

London, don’t be too scared if you come across a pirate or 200 this weekend, Its Pirate Festival weekend on Southbank, and today is of course Piratecon :D

We’ll be back reaking pirate havock on the banks of the Thames from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th Sunday.

This year all profits will be split between the Golden Hinde Educational Trust and the The Jubilee Sailing Trust (a registered charity that owns and operates Lord Nelson and Tenacious, the only two tall ships in the world designed and built to enable people of all physical abilities to sail side-by-side as equals.)

“If there were water…
If there were only water amongst the rock…
If there were the sound of water only
TS Eliot, The Wasteland
The Walbrook River was one of the largest and most important rivers in London. A Roman river, the Walbrook takes us back to ancient London, when south of the river was a group of islands, and much of what we now understand as this city was more marsh than land.
The Walbrook has been lost for over 5 centuries. With the help of a dowser, artist Amy Sharrocks has re-mapped this river, and is attempting to reclaim this great body of water with a huge public walk along its course.”

Amy Sharrocks has re-mapped the ancient buried Walbrook River from its source in Islington its mouth at the River Thames. Participents are asked to wear blue and be llosely tied at the waist, the idea being that this will be a process of re remembering the boy of water using a body of blue people!!!

I like Anarchy. Its good. Its doing something at least for what you believe in and from what I have experienced there can be a whole lot of fun involved if you’re not taking it all incredibly seriously…

So with that I bring to you the Anarchist Movement Conference 2009. Take a look at the call to the Movement …

“The anarchist ideals of mutual aid, solidarity and the desire to live as equals have been echoed throughout our history, in every country, by women and men, regardless of race or ethnicity. We have a proud history, this conference is both about recognizing where we have come from and organizing where we want to go. Be a part of it!”

I couldn’t believe this at first when I saw a comment posted on a friends facebook… Strangely its not in th UK News as of yet.

He added later “I was in the vicinity. I had to get away from the main area as it was getting very heated indeed. I could just about see what was going on. Some people were covered in blood…. Felt like a horror movie. Some of the protesters were throwing things at the police therefore delaying medical attention to the dying man – Police version: natural causes!! I am shocked”

OK, I don’t know why this central London building (occupied by the FilmLight digital film technology company) was covered in giant black-and-white stickers. And the pictures are gone now. But I thought it was cool enough to post photos of anyway…

BoingBoing has a great posting from London resident Cory Doctorow here.

Basically, if you’re under 16, in a public place after 9pm, and a police officer decides they don’t like the look of you and your mates, they can tell you to go away. Even if you are doing absolutely nothing wrong.

London and the UK’s inexplicable slide into a half-arsed, amateurish Orwellian future continues.

You may have noticed the weird little Google street view camera cars trundling the streets of Londinium over the last year. At long last the pics have been processed (Boots the Chemist, I expect) and put online.

Yay! Of course this is extremely cool. A modern wonder: fabulous, fascinating, useful, funny etc etc.

And how does the crap press react?

Evening Standard:

You’ve been framed by Google’s Street View

GOOGLE today removed dozens of pictures from its new Street View service because of privacy concerns…

Daily Mail:

Google forced to black out thousands of Street View photos after privacy protests.

…followed by, from the “not hypocritical at all” Mail?:

Have you spotted any quirky pictures on Street View? Email us a link to the image at stories@mailonline.co.uk

THOUSANDS of privacy protests in a day? Really? I doubt it. I smell journalistic licence (commonly knows as “making up numbers out of thin air”)

The London Paper:

Google privacy protest

Google forced to black out new service after London sex shop pics outrage

What a load of crap. There’s nothing in these pictures that you couldn’t get by going outside and walking around with your eyes open. As if we have anything to worry about, with about 15 CCTV cameras for every citizen.

Anyway – have a look around on Street View – it rocks!

In the meantime, here’s screengrabs of 2 of my favourite local shopfronts.

^^ I like this one because of the lovely old advertising paintings on the walls.

Westminster Council is trying to sting motorbike and scooter commuters for up to £400 a year for parking. A forum was set up to give people a voice to challenge this. A few people got riled up and said Really Bad Things, such as:

– anyone who supports motorcycle parking “must accept the consequences of their actions”

– and is time for “the gloves to come off”

OMG! It’s a “hate campaign”!!!! Revolution! Terrorists!

The tiresomely predicable reaction from the apparatchiks at Westminster is to sic their lawyers on the forum, and get it closed down. They throw around unsubstantiated allegations, out-of-context comments and issue threats – including “up to six months in prison or a fine of up to £5,000.”

Is this responsible government? Is this a council that listens to its people? No – of course it isn’t. It’s as cynical and ignorant as the original idea of the parking charges. Westminster are opportunists, playing the system. You might expect this kind of stuff in China, maybe. But not London in 2009.

One would have thought that Westminster Council would be able to see that reacting to a few robust bits of rhetoric on an internet forum with legal threats would be a REALLY BAD IDEA. But no.

All this, of course, is just Westminster throwing a hissy fit because there was a pretty large demo outside (and indeed within) their doors a few weeks ago. One of the main councillors responsible for the new charges got shouted down, and he ran away in panic with his pants round his ankles.